Virtue Vise

"Oh god of stone, please help me!"

The zealot knelt and prayed

Without food, without water

Paid homage through the day

His last meal on the altar

Offered for far more food

Till finally he passed out

A practice not too shrewd

A stranger found his body

Reviving him with drink

He took food from the altar

An led him from the brink

The next day the same zealot

Was back before the stone

He felt his prayers were answered

What's more the proof was shown

For missing from the altar

The food he sacrificed

Proved that the stone consumed it

His virtue in a vise